Trapped workers cry to be rescued; some are

“Save us, brother. I beg you, brother,” Mohammad Altab moaned to the rescuers who couldn’t help him. He had been trapped for more than 24 hours, pinned between slabs of concrete in the ruins of the garment factory building where he worked.

Altab should not have been in the building when it collapsed Wednesday, killing at least 275 people.

No one should have.

After seeing deep cracks in the walls of the building Tuesday, police had ordered it evacuated. But officials at the garment factories operating inside ignored the order and kept more than 2,000 people working, authorities said.

On Thursday, hundreds of rescuers, some crawling through the maze of rubble in search of survivors and corpses, spent a second day working amid the cries of the trapped and the wails of workers’ relatives gathered outside the Rana Plaza building, which housed numerous garment factories and a handful of other companies.

Rescuers on Thursday evening found 40 survivors trapped in a room on the fourth floor. “We want to live, brother! Please save us,” a man cried. It was not immediately clear if he or Atlab were among those later rescued.